EGYPT | A Spirit Within by Denis Dailleux | Opening Mon, Nov 16

Updated on Wednesday, October 14 2015

Born in Angers, France, Denis Dailleux made his first journey to Egypt more than fifteen years ago where his love affair with the country began. Through the photographs Dailleux took over that period, he shares an intimate appreciation for the kindness and generosity extended to him by the people of Egypt. His portraits celebrate the quiet corners of Cairo, the shy tenderness of a young man’s grin, the long afternoon as it slips into the night at a shisha cafe, and the compassionate embrace of a grown son encompassing his aging mother. A lasting tribute to a country he adores, Dailleux tells a story of Egypt that rarely finds an international spotlight.

An integral part of the exhibition to be hosted in Gulf Photo Plus, opening November 16th, Dailleux’s collection of portraits will include his work titled Mother & Son, for which he gained international recognition in the 2014 World Press Photo awards, winning 2nd place in the category of Staged Portraits. Dailleux approached numerous young men in the pursuit of bodybuilding, photographing them alongside their proud yet delicately ageing mothers.

Dailleux’s story of Egypt will persuade you not only with his enchanting subject matter but also from a photographer’s point of view, you will appreciate his patience, his ability to pursue the perfect moment, when the composition completes itself and nothing more or less could ever do. His celebration of color is balanced with his appreciation for the drama that exists in the everyday movements of life.

The exhibition EGYPT | A Spirit Within will be on exhibit from November 16 until December 31 at Gulf Photo Plus, Unit D36 in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. At 8pm on Nov 16 Dailleux will lead a guided tour of the exhibition, which is free to attend and open to the public.

About Denis DailleuxBorn in 1958 in Angers, France, Dailleux lived in Cairo for over 10 years.

As described by Christian Caujolle, founder of Agence VU and Associate Professor at the National Superior School Louis Lumière in France,

“Imbued with his distinctive delicacy, Denis Dailleux’s photographic work appears calm on the surface, yet is incredibly demanding, run through by an undercurrent of constant self-doubt and propelled by the essential personal bond he develops with those (and that which) he frames with his camera.

His passion for people has naturally led him to develop portraiture as his preferred means of representing those whose true self he feels an urge to get closer to. Which he has, with actress Catherine Deneuve as well as with countless anonymous subjects from the slums of Cairo, working with the same discretion, waiting to get from his subjects what he is hoping they will offer him, without ever asking for it, simply hoping that it will happen. That is how he has patiently constructed a unique portrait of his beloved Cairo to create, with black and whites of exemplary classicism and colors of rare subtlety, the definite alternative to the heaps of cultural and touristic clichés which clutter our minds.” - Christian Caujolle